Waynesburg’s Headlee keeping his eye on the prize; semis next
HERSHEY – He looked strong, aggressive and determined, all the attributes one could hope for in a wrestling champion.
Now, A.C. Headlee just needs to continue that effort for one more day, and he could become the 31st PIAA champion in Waynesburg High School history.
Headlee, a senior who won section and WPIAL titles this season, mauled Brock Port of Bellefonte Friday, taking a 9-0 major decision from the sophomore in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Championships in the Giant Center.
Headlee is the only local Class AAA qualifier remaining, as teammate Caleb Morris went 0-2 Thursday and Canon-McMillan’s two qualifiers – Logan Macri and Micah Kusturiss – lost their consolation matches at 106 and 145 pounds, respectively, Friday.
The top eight wrestlers in each weight class earn a medal. There is no guessing which one Headlee wants, and most believe he will have to get past Latrobe’s Luke Pletcher, who waits on the other side of the bracket.
First, Headlee has to get past today’s semifinals, which begin at 9 a.m.
Headlee will get a rematch against Jake Hinkson, a sophomore from North Allegheny. The two met in the second round of last weekend’s WPIAL tournament, and Headlee pinned him in 1:32 on the way to the finals, where he won a thrilling 2-1 ultimate tiebreaker decision over Pletcher, a two-time state champion who was undefeated until then.
“Everyone here is good,” said Headlee, now 43-1. “I’ve lost too many times in the semis to take anyone lightly. I want to do the same things I’ve always done before a match: Keep my weight down, eat enough and drink enough, then go out and wrestle.”
Headlee launched an offense that seemed to startle Port. He hit a five-point move in the first period and turned Port again for three more in the second to take an 8-0 lead. Headlee added an escape in the third to make a nine-point edge.
“I could have done better,” said Headlee. “I felt a little slow on my feet. I could have speeded it up a little bit.”
Pletcher kept pace by knocking off Lucas Schaf of Emmaus in the quarterfinals with a pin in 37 seconds to raise his record to 38-1.
“We are going to prepare the same way for every match,” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton. “You want to control the match to your situation. It won’t be any different than before.”
If one thing is different about Headlee, it’s a positive.
“He’s wrestled well his whole career, but now it’s the maturity factor,” said Throckmorton. “It’s nice to have experience on your side. He’s gained a lot of experience by the situations he’s been in.”
Macri saw his run in the tournament end when Luke Werner of Liberty won a 12-7 decision in the second round of consolations. Kusturiss was pinned 17 seconds into overtime in his consolation match against Dom Petrucelli of Owen J. Roberts.
“Obviously, the goal is to come home with some hardware,” said C-M head coach Jason Cardillo. “Up here, only 14 guys (in Class AAA) leave happy. We were coming here in a season where none of our wrestlers were here before. Next year, we’ll have two guys who have been here before, and they will help the others.”
No one associated with the C-M program could recall the last time the Big Macs failed to have a medalist.
This season comes following what was arguably the best era in school history. The Big Macs won a combined five state team titles from 2011 to 2013 and had four state champions. They also set a WPIAL record for Class AAA teams by winning four consecutive WPIAL Team Tournament titles.
“It’s tough to repeat year after year,” said Cardillo. “It’s unheard of to go through the run we did. You see it’s Franklin Regional now. But it will be hard to keep that up. When you have four-year starters coming through, it’s hard to sustain that the next year with younger kids.”